


Just Tell Him Already

by bittersweetheartbreak (wondergirlinwonderland)



Category: Yours Mine & Ours (2005)
Genre: M/M, Step-Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-16
Updated: 2016-07-04
Packaged: 2018-07-15 08:50:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7215748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wondergirlinwonderland/pseuds/bittersweetheartbreak
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pheobe North and Christina Beardsley were both observant and stubborn teenage girls. They also are the kind to come up with crazy ideas. Like the ridiculous idea that their brothers, Dylan North and William Beardsley, were in love with each other. (Will/Dylan slash)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Pheobe North and Christina Beardsley were both observant and stubborn teenage girls. They also were the kind to come up with very out-there ideas, such as the ridiculous idea that their brothers, Dylan North and William Beardsley, were in love with each other. Now, had they told anyone their assumptions, people would think they were way off base and probably consider them living in a fantasy world. Therefore, they kept it between themselves, but they knew that not even their brothers would be able to convince them that they were wrong about this.

"So, how are we going to get them to confess about their relationship?" Christina asked her step-sister in their bedroom, in as low of a voice as she could. The walls were paper-thin and there were way too many people living in this house. If they spoke even just one decibel too loud, their plan would be blown.

"I don't think anything's going on yet," answered Phoebe, laying on her bed, hands behind her head.

"But the signs are all there!" Christina said, jumping onto Phoebe's bed.

"Shh!" Phoebe shushed her step-sister. "Yeah, the signs that they're into each other. But every time they stare longingly at one another, the other isn't looking. And when the other does look-"

"They turn away," Christina had the same realization that Phoebe did. "So, in order to get them to confess, we need to get them separately, right?" She stretched her legs over Phoebe's and leaned her back against the wall.

"Of course, they'd never admit it in front of each other, well, yet. We need to show them some sisterly support. Gently explain to them that we support their sexuality and that they love one another."

"When should we start?"

"Now's a good time." The two girls smiled and walked out of the bedroom, discussing exactly what to say.


	2. Chapter 2

Dylan North was listening to his iPod, anyone able to hear his rock music, despite headphones, and sketching in his secret sketchbook. This sketchbook was the one part of his art he wouldn't let anybody see. Why? Well, this book was dedicated only to sketches of the boy he loved. Yes, Dylan North was gay, and his brother Jimi was the only one to know. Well, Jimi and Dylan's ex-boyfriend, but he was long gone and therefore no longer of any importance. But that part he was sure his mother wouldn't be against, nor the rest of the Norths for that matter. He was still unsure of the Beardsley reaction, but fear of how anyone felt about his sexuality wasn't what kept him from showing off his sketches. What kept the secret sketchbook so secret was that all of the sketches were of a certain class president, roommate, step-brother, William Beardsley.

The latter was at his desk, getting his papers for the next morning organized, sneaking occasional glances at his roommate. Anyone could tell they were the farthest things from friends, and if anyone knew what fantasies William was trying to shut out in his head, they'd think he was disgusting, crazy, and wrong on more than one level. Not only was he having both sexual and emotional feelings for a _guy_ , but due to some freak-accident, courtesy of his father's marriage to Helen North, the star of these fantasies ended up being his step-brother. Under different circumstances, where his father wasn't so obsessed with order and perfection, and if Dylan wasn't "related" to him, maybe he might have a chance. But no, the fates wouldn't dare let that happen.

To top it all off, Dylan's annoying as hell music was blasting so loud that William could barely hear himself think. He grinned to himself, glancing once more at his step-brother, who was staring deeply at his sketchbook.

William used the wheels on his desk chair to roll towards Dylan's bed. He reached over and yanked the headphones off his brother's head, his hand _accidently_ brushing against Dylan's leg.

"Hey, what'd you do that for?" Dylan yelled, slamming his sketchbook face down on the bed and pausing his iPod. Whether he meant why William touched Dylan's leg or why he pulled off the headphones, William was unsure, so he decided to answer the latter. It was a much safer question to answer, anyway. However, he was also unsure of whether or not that was a blush reaching Dylan's face or if this was one of William's fantasies again.

"That thing is blasting so loud I can't even hear my own thoughts. Just wanted you to lower it," William smiled...or was that a smirk? Dylan blushed. He actually meant the William's hand on his leg part, but apparently William hadn't noticed that even happened. He wanted to hit himself, of course William didn't notice. An innocent touch wouldn't be noticed by most people. The blush deepened, and Dylan was sure he looked like a tomato right about now, and he hoped William didn't notice.

But alas, William's smirk grew wider, and he just had to ask, "Why are you blushing so deeply?" Of course, the mentioned blush grew even darker, and Dylan grew defensive.

"I am _not_ blushing! It's just - um - the room is just hot! Y-yes, that's it! It's hot in here!" Dylan knew how stupid that sounded, but he figured a stupid answer was better than no answer.

"Then take off your shirt, and maybe your face will return to a normal color," William said with a shrug and what sounded like no feeling, clearly hiding the true intentions behind his words. He chose this moment to turn the back of the chair to Dylan and get back to his desk.

'Chill out, Dyl, William didn't mean it like that. If you would've kept your stupid mouth shut and not talked about how _hot_ it is, he wouldn't have even said that!' Dylan thought to himself. He did, however take his shirt off, and, due to the fact that he thought this night couldn't get any worse, it got caught on his head and muscular arms. "William, I'd hate to bother you, but, could you ... help?"

"With what?" Dylan could hear the chair turning and his step-brother laughing. "Oh, my God." William took this opportunity to climb onto Dylan and straddle his lap. He grazed his hands up Dylan's sides, and pulled the shirt over Dylan's head and arms with ease. He had learned by now to control his urges when his imagination runs wild, but this was just too much, and it might have been William getting so turned on that he imagined it, but he felt a little friction in the boy underneath him. Who kissed who, both boys were unsure of, but the next second they were making out with each other on Dylan's bed, neither wanting to stop.

However, pretty early on into the make-out session, there was a pounding on the door and the knob began to turn. As two of their sisters entered the bedroom, William fell back and hit his head on the desk chair.

"Are we interrupting something?" Christina asked, she and Phoebe smiling knowingly.

"No, this was nothing, just...nothing," William walked out, throwing Dylan his shirt. With a wink to her sister, Christina followed her brother out. Phoebe shut the door and walked over to her brother, as Dylan scrambled to put on his shirt.


	3. Chapter 3

"So… nothing?" Phoebe smirked, sitting next to her brother.

"Shut up, Pheebs," Dylan said, finally getting his shirt back on. His sister didn't have the heart to tell him it was backwards.

"I'm sorry, but I'm just a little confused. I mean, rarely does a person's shirt come off during a 'nothing,' so I have to figure a little more than 'nothing' was happening just a second ago."

"It was me being the world's biggest idiot."

"Well, aren't you always?" Phoebe joked, earning a glare from Dylan. After a beat of silence, she sighed softly and put her arm around her brother. "No, seriously, tell me everything. I'm here for you."

Dylan took a moment, closing his eyes and bracing himself. He had a feeling she'd be fine with it but still, this was only the third person who was going to know his secret. "Phoebe, I'm gay," he admitted softly.

Phoebe had been rubbing his arm soothingly, and she didn't falter a bit at the confession. "I don't know if this is going to make you feel better or worse, but I figured. Go on."

Dylan opened his eyes and stared at her for a second. "You... knew? How?"

"I can't explain it, I just had a feeling. Maybe it's just sister's intuition. Is there anything else you'd like to talk about?"

Dylan nodded, accepting it. Clearly she didn't have a problem with him liking guys, but now to tell her which guy in particular he currently liked. "Okay, I also may kind of... sort of... have feelings for William."

"Mhm, and?" Phoebe asked, still not surprised.

"Is that really all the emotion you can gather up for this?"

Phoebe rolled her eyes softly, smiling. "I'm sorry." She cleared her throat and faked shock, exclaiming, "Oh, my God! And?!"

Dylan laughed at her obvious caricature of what he'd been expecting, shaking his head and accepting that maybe she knew him that well after all. He took a deep breath and began explaining, ending off going onto a small ramble, "Well, I was blasting my iPod and then he yanked the headphones off and I don't know if it was intentional, accidental, or my imagination, but his hand seemed to touch my thigh, for about a millisecond, and of course, I started blushing, a lot, and then he realized and asked why and I came up with the dumb excuse that it was hot, so he told me to take my shirt off if I was that hot. The idiot that I am got my shirt stuck, so he was helping me get it unstuck-"

"Which is when you guys started kissing and we walked in," Phoebe cut in.

" _We_ weren't kissing. _I_ was kissing _him_. There is _no way_ that he could've been kissing me back. He's straight, and my brother!"

"Step-brother," Phoebe corrected. "And you'll never know how he feels about you until you ask him."

"What am I supposed to say, Pheebs? 'Hey William, I know you're straight but do you have any feelings for me, even though we're practically related, totally opposite, and you love making my life miserable?' He'd tell Frank and want to move out of the bedroom."

"Think about things and don't keep letting your insecurities take control. And when you realized the truth," Phoebe got up and walked out, then leaned back into the doorway, " _just tell him already._ "


	4. Chapter 4

Christina almost lost sight of William incredibly fast, in her opinion. It didn't make sense why he was practically running down the hall, but she supposed it was mostly just regarding his own fears. She could understand him being scared, but she didn't understand why he'd seemed almost angry when he'd left his bedroom.

"Will, wait a second, would you?" she asked, a little exasperated. Her brother didn't slow down and she groaned. By the time she'd finally caught up, he was on the stairs up to the lighthouse. "Hey, what's the rush?" she asked quietly, grabbing his arm.

The teenage boy in question stopped at the hand on his arm, sighing softly. "Can I just be left alone, Christina?" he asked quietly.

The blonde didn't want to listen, at first. The plan was to get him to admit he liked Dylan. True, the plan was now thrown for a loop with what she'd just walked in on, but still. Then again, this was her brother, one of her two best friends in the entire world and the only one who'd been there for everything through her life. If he really wanted to be left alone, she'd respect that. Reluctantly, she let go of his arm and nodded, until daring to ask, "Are you sure?"

Apparently, that'd been the wrong thing to ask, because William threw his hands in the air and groaned. "I don't know. I don't care," he groaned, stomping up the stairs.

Seeing that she hadn't exactly been told for sure to go away, Christina decided to take a chance. She followed him up the stairs and sighed softly to herself when she realized he didn't seem to plan on lighting the lantern. Taking initiative, she did it for him before moving to sit down next to him.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Talk about what? The fact that I'm a complete imbecile and now I'm probably getting sent off to military school?"

Christina furrowed her eyebrows, trying to process the statement. "What makes you say that?"

"Oh, come on, Christina. There's no way that's not getting sent back to the Admiral and he's not going to be okay with having a son who's a…" He trailed off and his sister wondered about the end of that sentence. Something told her it wasn't exactly a nice way of describing himself and suddenly his anger seemed to make sense, in a way. "Never mind two, if Dylan's even..."

Christina bit her lip, thinking of a way to go about this that wouldn't set her brother off. She couldn't believe she'd been so blind to not even think about this part of the equation. She and Phoebe had just figured the two boys just didn't know how the other felt, or worried what would happen since they were stepbrothers. Being around the Norths so much, Christina had completely let it slip her mind that Will probably hadn't accepted his own sexuality and/or wasn't ready to let it be known.

"Will, I understand why you think that way, but come on. You know Dad has gotten a lot less strict about everything since Helen, and she's not going to let him send you or Dylan off to military school just because you might like guys. Not to mention, I don't know how you think that little incident is going to get back to him, because there's not a chance I'm going to go rat you out and I can guarantee neither are Dylan or Phoebe."

William rolled his eyes at her response, looking out over the water that shown with the reflection of the moonlight. "He probably hates me."

"He probably doesn't," Christina reassured, moving to grab his hand. She felt him squeeze her hand and she returned the pressure.

"What am I going to do, Chris?" Will's voice was barely a whisper and he still hadn't looked back at her.

The blonde took a moment to think about her advice. "First and foremost, realize that there is nothing wrong with who you are or how you feel. I get that you're scared, but." She cut herself off. She didn't want to say that there was nothing to be afraid of. The world was still a scary place. "You're safe here. Even if you're not ready to tell the world, you have us, and if you're not ready to tell everyone, you certainly have everyone involved in tonight. Me most of all, Will."

Her brother finally looked at her, a grateful look in his eyes and a shy smile on his face. It gave Christina encouragement to go on. "That being said, you should probably go talk to Dylan. Get this thing figured out, have that awkward talk, because you can't avoid him, especially if you can't think of a good reason for you falling asleep up here if our parents figure it out."

Will gave a small chuckle at that. She was right, he needed to talk to Dylan about tonight. Whether he told Will he didn't really swing that way, if he did but thought of him as a brother, if he completely hated him or on the off chance that he did return Will's feelings, he needed to know – not just because he needed to sleep in his own room tonight, but for himself. "Thank you. You're right. I'll just go about this like a checklist or something. First, make sure my best friend and little sister doesn't think I'm gross."

"Absolutely check, I can guarantee she does not," the cheerleader insisted, giving his hand another squeeze.

"Second, figure things out with Dylan. Third can be slowly opening up to the rest of the crew and our parents. I'll figure that order out another time…"

"There's no rush, Will. Except maybe with the Dylan thing, seeing as you skipped over the talking before and went right into the kissing?" She hesitantly smiled at him, trying not to laugh at the small flush that came to his cheeks. She wasn't used to him being embarrassed.

"Listen, I can explain tha—"

"Ugh," she grunted, rolling her eyes. She stood up and pulled him, despite him being much heavier due to his muscle. "You can explain to me tomorrow. You have more pressing issues." Christina giggled a little to herself as she gently nudged him towards the stairs. He stopped at the top, mouth open to say something, but she cut him off again before he could. "Just tell him already!"


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with this, this fic finally comes to an end. Only took me 8 years, right? Hah. Anyway. This chapter took longer than expected, partly because I'm bad at endings and partly because I suddenly became busy in real life. Also, I got distracted very easily when I wasn't actually busy, too, so. I really hope you guys enjoyed reading this, and I am so sorry for the long wait. Without further adieu, here is the finale (and longest piece) to "Just Tell Him Already"

Dylan had waited way longer than he'd hoped to for William to come back to their bedroom. It seemed like hours since he'd stormed off and ever since Phoebe had left, all he could think about was what a bad idea this was. Part of him wondered if William wasn't even coming back to the bedroom at all, if he'd already went and told their parents he wanted a room switch or something.

Phoebe's voice replayed in his head, and Dylan stopped his pacing and sat on his bed. He picked up his sketchbook and began to draw again, not having an idea in mind and just letting the markers go.

In reality, the 'hours' ticking by in Dylan's head were less than fifteen minutes. William stood at their closed door, trying to will himself (ha) into entering. He chickened out, deciding he needed to use the bathroom and then that he needed a water. After he'd finished his third glass in the kitchen and used the restroom for the second time, he finally forced himself to stop procrastinating. Beardsleys were not procrastinators. They got things done in a timely and precise manner.

Spurred on by his own pep-talk, Will entered the room and shut the door behind him, bracing himself for any yelling that may come. When the room remained silent, he looked up at Dylan. The younger boy didn't make a move to look at him, but Will could see that his hand that held a marker almost against his sketchbook had stilled. William took a deep breath and locked the door behind him, not wanting anyone to walk in on the conversation that was about to happen.

Dylan's eyebrow raised when he heard the click of the lock, mind immediately replaying the image of Will on top of him. He blinked that thought away, popping the cap off the back of his marker and covering it, followed by shutting the sketchbook and sliding it under his bed. His mind was racing and he was honestly scared to look back at William, but he did, doing his best to not let on what was going on in his head.

Will moved to sit on his own bed, tension quickly filling the large space in between the two boys. It took a few heartbeats for either to say anything, but when they did, it was at the same time and sounded too indistinct with the mix of their voices. They stopped after a few words and Dylan sighed softly. "Do you want to go first?" he asked, after a few moments of silence.

William thought about it for a second. Did he? He usually was fine with taking charge but on this, between the two of them, he felt like he might have been the one less prepared. Still, he found himself nodding and took a deep breath. "I guess I'll just start with an apology, I'm sorry."

Dylan furrowed his eyebrows. He didn't expect an apology. "For what?" The only thing he could think of was maybe that the other boy would be apologizing for leading him on, that maybe William realized Dylan's feelings after that kiss and now felt bad for encouraging them when he didn't feel the same.

"You were in a vulnerable state when I was helping you before and I completely took advantage and made a move on you without asking or anything and I'm sorry." The older boy looked down at his bed.

Dylan blinked for a moment. Figures. Was Will trying to singlehandedly prove that chivalry was still alive or something? "Will. You know me pretty well, right? If I hadn't been okay with the move, don't you think I would have let you know?"

Will looked up, a little surprised, as he pieced together what was being said. "So…so you didn't mind?"

Dylan chuckled. He'd imagined this conversation a lot more serious than it actually seemed to be. William was either really good at yanking his chain and making him think he liked him back when he didn't, or his genius crush really did like him back and was actually pretty oblivious. "Yeah. I mean, I really appreciate the apology and wanting to have asked and whatnot but, yeah. I certainly…didn't mind."

William nodded. "Okay, so does that mean, I mean, are you…?"

Dylan waited for him to finish the sentence, but when he didn't, he decided to finish it for him. "Gay? Yeah, I am." He looked down at his hands and bit his lip, the first time in the course of the conversation he'd looked away from William. "I've known for a while. Haven't really told anyone yet. Jimi knows, and now so do Phoebe and you, and I guess Christina, even though I didn't really come out to her…" He shrugged, aware he was starting to ramble. It felt weird, like a weight was simultaneously off his shoulders and crushing him with just how many people were slowly finding out. Three in just one night. "Um, how about you? It's okay, I guess, if you don't want to tell me, it's hard to come out with it – wow, no pun intended…"

William gave a small smile; he couldn't help but find the rambling endearing. This was his crush, every bit of awkward and everything else that was in Dylan. As for his own sexuality… "I, I'm not exactly sure? I've liked girls before, too, so I didn't think I was gay."

"There's more than just gay and straight, Willie," Dylan said with a shrug. "You could be bi or pan, and there's demi or asexual, and you could always figure it out if you're not sure now…" He took a deep breath and leaned against his wall. "I'm rambling again. I'm sorry."

"You don't need to apologize." Will bit his lip, getting off his bed. "Do you mind if..." he trailed off with the question, motioning towards Dylan's bed.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, no problem." Dylan scooted closer to his pillows to give Will more room, not that he didn't have a good amount of space beforehand. "Well, I guess now that we have that question answered as well as we can for now, we should focus on what happened before."

Will nodded in agreement, feeling back to his old self and a lot more confident. Or at least, more determined to get this out before he lost his nerve, because he was still unsure what actually saying this out loud would mean. "Okay, well, I guess it's been implied but I should probably just say it. I may not know what I am but I know I do like you, and I'm not sure how long I have or how well this would work, even if we hadn't ended up stepbrothers, but I guess it's finally time you know. For sure. Before anything else happens."

Dylan looked up at the older boy, who was looking at him with such an intensity, such a raw, honest emotion that he hadn't ever thought he'd get to see on Will's face. It almost took him back but he found instead that he was drawn to it. "Well then, I guess we have that in common."

Will couldn't help but smirk a little, finding an opening to tease the other. "You like yourself, too?"

Dylan rolled his eyes, playfully punching Will in the upper arm. "Jerk. You know what I meant. I like you, too, and I don't know how this," he gestured in between them, realizing with that motion just how little space actually was between them, "is supposed to work."

Will nodded again, slower this time. "Well, Christina's advice was to figure this out first before worrying about all the specifics of it…"

Dylan raised an eyebrow up at the taller of the two. "You, not worry about specifics?" Fair was fair, he needed to get in his own snark.

"Oh, shut up." There. This was a lot more like them. A lot less serious, that part could wait for another time.

"Or what, Beardsley?" This was Will and Dylan, trading snide remarks back and forth.

"Or I'll have to make you, North." But with a touch of flirty, and that damn smirk Will wore had gotten a bit more predatory.

Dylan wasn't sure what it said about him that it was stirring something in him. He cheekily looked Will up and down, defiant as ever. "I dare you to try."

Will raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah?" Well, he did know Dylan was up for it, and he _had_ locked the door after all… He slowly leaned over, and almost pulled back as Dylan had started moving back. However, when the shorter boy had settled himself into the pillows with a smirk of his own, Will took that as a good sign. Hovering over the other boy, he slowly leaned down, but instead of going straight for the lips, he leaned in closer to his ear.

Dylan snaked his arms around Will, biting his lip in anticipation for whatever it was Will was planning. "By the way," he heard his stepbrother whisper. Dylan shivered at the hot breath at his ear and the hand that had found its way to his chest. "You put your shirt back on backwards," Will finished, hand pulling the tag that was incorrectly at Dylan's front instead of back out, and laughing a bit as he pulled away from Dylan's ear.

He teasingly moved further back and began to get up off the bed, back to Dylan and smirk widening when the other boy protested, a little too loud. "Will, you jerk, get back here. Now."

Will threw a look over his shoulder, eyebrow raised and smirk still in place. "Make me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if you wanted more love and physical affection in this last chapter. I just couldn't help but make Will a little shit. I finished this in a rare moment when I wasn't feeling sick this week so I hope you all enjoyed.


End file.
